Sorceress, Interrupted - By A. J. Menden Page 0,85

us. We touched him,” the strange voice said again.

“I own him now,” Dylan said. “He shouldn’t have tried to find us. He should have known that if he could reach us, we could reach him. I’m inside him now, beautiful.”

One of Cyrus’s hands closed around my throat, and the other felt around the carpet for the shattered remains of a glass picture frame that had gotten knocked off the wall. “I’ll cut your head off,” Dylan’s voice said.

I struggled against him, trying to break free even as the darkness threatened to swallow me whole and stars danced before my eyes. There seemed a real possibility that I could die, and I didn’t want it. I magically lashed out as I felt my strength starting to give. I’d used up way too much magic and didn’t have enough oxygen to think straight.

Suddenly, Cyrus let go. I gasped for air, my lungs sucking in as much as I could take.

“They let go,” he said, clearly amazed. When I met his eyes I could see that he was back. “At least temporarily.”

“We’ve got to somehow make sure they can’t take you over again.”

“I’m not going to be the one who kills you, Fantazia. I’m not,” Cyrus commanded. “If that happens again, you have to stop me. One way or another, you’ve got to stop me. You’re the only one strong enough to do it.”

“Are you saying you want me to kill you?” I asked, horrified.

“If that’s what it takes to permanently stop them from controlling my body, yes. Just do it quick, because I can feel them coming back.”

“I’m not . . .” I felt tears run down my face. “No. You can’t ask me that!”

“Now’s the time to remind yourself that you don’t care about anyone. That you didn’t mean what you said the other night, what you said in another language. The other night never even happened, if that helps. I don’t care what you have to say to make yourself stop me, just stop me,” he begged, his eyes wide with panic. “Please do it.”

“No!” I shrieked.

He grabbed me by the arms, squeezing tight enough to leave bruises. An expression of agony took over his face and he let go, but then he was looking away from me, at something I couldn’t see. “Oh, God, it’s ripping through me. I can’t . . . I can’t . . .” He wasn’t even seeing me anymore. Zeroes and ones spilled from his mouth like a sermon.

I covered my ears and squeezed my eyes tightly shut, finally summoning the only words that would stop him. I loved him this much, no matter what I was unable to say. He’d begged me to do this; I had to do something.

The room went silent. I slowly opened one eye. Cyrus lay on the floor, staring at nothing.

My whole body was racked by a sob. Against all hope, I called out for the one person who could help.

“DADDY!”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

A flash of light seared the room and Wesley appeared, clearly having teleported in from DC. He gave a swift glance around, his eyes burning a bright blue. “What is it? What’s happened?”

I threw myself into his arms and sobbed, clinging to him like a hurt child. His whole body stiffened, like he was in shock, but then he relaxed. Some ancient fatherly instinct must have kicked in. He stroked my hair and leaned his head against mine.

“Shh. It’s okay. Va tutto benne.”

I cried even harder at hearing him tell me everything was all right. All the emotion that had been stuck inside me for so long seemed set on coming out in the face of this tragedy.

“Sweetheart, what’s happened? What is it?”

With one shaky hand, I pointed to the floor and burst into a fresh batch of tears.

Wesley followed my finger and gasped when he saw Cyrus lying there. “What happened? What have you done to him?” He left my side to check Cyrus. For once, I didn’t mind not being the focus of attention.

“Was the Dragon here?” he asked. He waved a hand over Cyrus and cast a small diagnostic spell.

I shook my head. “Not physically, anyway. Cyrus was trying to hack into the source of that spell Dylan used on the civilians, or at least what he assumed was the source. He was using what he thought was the prototype spell. But . . . it’s not a spell. It’s a hex.” I quickly explained the sequence of events just past, then ended the